Nairnshire Telegraph
From the extraordinary opening Fanfare to the concluding DÈpart, we were exposed to a series of highly individual sound worlds...
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The Herald
A nicely balanced programme on paper materialised under the direction of Clio Gould as an occasion to savour the inventiveness of Benjamin Britten's contribution to musical life -...
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Aberdeen Press and Journal
There was exquisitely beautiful playing from Clio Gould and the Scottish Ensemble...
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Britten Les Illuminations - The Daily Telegraph

05 March 2005The Daily TelegraphMatthew Rye

Les Illuminations was written with a soprano voice in mind, but has been colonised by tenors just as much as the male-voice Serenade. Toby Spence's agile and tonally fresh tenor seems admirably suited to both works, and his intelligence and communicativeness put him on a level with other leading modern-day interpreters such as Philip Langridge (Naxos, Serenade only) and Martyn Hill (Virgin). Martin Owen is his eloquent equal in Serenade. Britten wrote all the works on this disc for the full body of strings in a chamber or symphony orchestra. So, with an ensemble of just 12 players (bolstered to 15 in the Frank Bridge Variations), a few liberties have inevitably had to be taken with Britten's string writing. But the important thing is that it seems not to matter. Indeed, what may be a loss in tonal substance proves a gain in clarity, with plenty of chamber-like transparency to the textures, but no loss of power.